WOWZAS! I'm amazed about the feedback when the word 'sequel' was mentioned! Well, we're on the last like 2 or 3 chapters now so I guess I'd better keep my promise! Summer holidays are coming up so plenty of time to start the sequel. It'll be in the exact same category (Ziio/Haytham K.) and Romance/Drama.

Just remains for me to thank all you WONDERFUL viewers! Nearly 9,000 in 6 months? It's crazy...SO THANK YOU!

ZIIO

I stood there for a moment, perplexed. Why had Haytham simply run off? I cannot explain how, but it made me feel slightly uncomfortable. My brain was already in a whirl from overhearing Koshisigre's conversation with Alo and Kitchi. All these mixed feelings were tangling the very fibre of my mind into a strong knot.

I needed to clear my head. A hunt should do the trick.

Yes, that seemed a wise decision to me. I did not fancy going back into the village to fetch my bow and arrows, so I decided that my knife would do. I'd just have to aim for small animals like hares or rabbits.

The trees swayed above my head, filtering out the late afternoon sun. As I headed uphill a gentle breeze became more apparent. I took a deep breath, attempting to soothe my aching head.

I followed the direction of the wind, not knowing where to go. It was a start, at least. There would be some prey wherever I walked; I had confidence.

I spotted a plump hare by a nearby bush. There! I thought. I tugged my knife free from its case, flexing my fingers on the hilt. I edged closer, silently, swiftly. The hare paused to eat some wildflowers growing beneath the bush. My shadow was behind it, so it did not detect me – but carried on feasting. I raised my arm up high. The knife glinted in the afternoon sun like a predator's tooth, ready to strike...

A low-pitched growl knocked all breath from my lungs. I turned in shock to the source of the monstrous snarl...and I was paralysed. I gasped, but no air entered my mouth. At a pouncing position stood a huge, bloodthirsty cougar.

The hare behind me squeaked and dived for the bush. The orange beast lunged at me; its razor-edged claws flexed as – in mid-air – it sailed towards me. My heart was was pulsing so fast I thought I'd faint. My head was bellowing at me:

Do something!
MOVE!

Another sickening snarl shadowed the echoes in my mind. I dived sideways, rolling over as I did so. The wildcat soared towards me again; this time too quickly for me to react. Pinned down, my stomach lurched. I felt like I was going to vomit. The battering of my heart would stop any time soon; I would become a cat's prey...

I looked into the fiery eyes of my killer. The hot tears spilling from my own said it all. Just...do it, I prayed to the savage beast. I thought of all the things I had done; and all the things I hadn't done, and was never going to do. I didn't want to die. The cougar growled louder than my screaming head. I closed my eyes as its teeth slashed into the skin around my neck, missing the fatal point narrowly. I howled in pain as blood oozed from the open wound. The agony was overwhelming; I struggled in vain like a fish on land. I didn't want to die! Not today!

Do something!
Too...much...pain...
I don't want to die!
Your knife! It is in your hand, Ziio! USE IT! USE IT NOW!

With all the struggle I had left, I lifted my wrist and plunged the blade into the cougar's orange belly. Its claws retracted from my skin with an excruciating force; it flopped beside me and kicked its paws in a frenzy. Blood-curdling wails began to form and die on its tongue and the saffron eyes were glazed over with tears. I lay flat on the ground, still panting in shock as the animal writhed; jerked; perished beside me.

Silence. Nothing but the smell of my own blood; the intense stinging above my breast; my own desperate gasps for air. I swallowed with difficulty, tasting metallic fluid in my mouth. I felt like the beast had melted the inside of my throat, as it was so inflamed. But it was the shock that was the worst element of it all. Adrenaline was still racing round my head, making it sore. My ears were still roaring from absorbing the cougar's final cries. Every muscle in my body was tense, barely strong enough to twitch.

I blinked repeatedly and sat up. I had to inspect the wound. I was lucky to be alive; I knew that much. It was fortunate that my knife was still in my hand. My reactions had saved me by a matter of seconds.

The pain...

I peered down at the wound. A slurry of raw flesh and blood was exposed on my upper chest. No wonder it stung so much. It was so huge that I could fit my entire had on it. But it was still bleeding. I knew enough about medicine to recognise that this was bad. Very bad.

I need to bathe it.

I wondered if I should head back to the village...but no. I did not want the children to see me in such a vulgar condition. I myself had been scarred enough by Father, Helaku and Pallaton's corpses as a child. I would have to immerse it fully in water. That meant...

The river.

I staggered upright, only to find that my legs were still unstable from shock. There were goosebumps all across the skin on my arms. I was in no fit condition to travel too far. I would have to go directly to the riverbank. Retrieving my knife, I stumbled down the path that I knew would take me to the stream.

HAYTHAM

This scepticism was unbearable.

Knowing that – I might have seen her for the very last time that night. Knowing that the love I felt was one that I could not show. Or else. My head would never stop throbbing at the thought of her face; the feel of her lips; the mention of her name. Half was telling me that I had plunged a little too far into danger of discovery: that I should return to the Templars before I fell to deep.

But Ziio had made me fall deep already...deep in love; in passion that I never knew that I possessed. The other half of my mind was powerless to her beauty. It ceased to think maturely in her presence. Part of me said that what happened between Ziio and I in the cave was never to happen again; the other was predicting that something was coming; that the nectar of my hard work would soon taste sweeter than honey.

So, do I love her?

I found that question difficult to answer. Yes, I thought to myself, yes I do. But should tonight be the very last time I see her...then I must admit it.

It pained me to think that I might never lay eyes on such a beautiful face ever again. Ziio had set my thought patterns walking in a different direction. She had changed my views on life completely. She had shown me what it meant to cherish.

So tonight, she would learn. Just how much she meant to me.

Perhaps I should go disguised to escape the Templars' attention. Yes, that was a good plan. I flung my coat onto my bed at the tavern, along with my triangular hat and hidden blades. I looked back in the mirror at myself. A younger version of me, I felt. Now, I really did look like a twenty-eight-year-old man. Not a man with duty slung over his shoulders. All that remained of me now was a spotless white shirt and black breeches. Fetching.

I took a deep breath, snuffed the candle on my desk out and headed for the door.

ZIIO

Twenty minutes later, I found that I'd left a trail of blood as I walked. Of course, I did not mean for this to happen, but when I removed my deerskin boots at the bank of the river, the sand drank in the red liquid like water to scorched soil. Anyone who came near would think I had murdered somebody. But no. I knew that nobody would come here. This was a remote part of the forest, I knew.

Would I need to take all of my clothing off? No, probably only my outer cape. I unfastened the catch and sighed deeply as the heavy garment fell off my shoulders. I also removed my leggings, not wanting to get them drenched in the water.

The sun was setting across a beautiful pink sky when I waded out into the deep. The cold fluid was exhilarating, like a rainstorm in a drought. It was immediately dyed red around me when I stood in its depths. Already the wound had begun to close over. I sighed in my utter relief.

However, the same could not be said for the ugly red stain on my dress. I did not want my mother seeing that, after all. I pulled the left shoulder strap down, fully exposing the untreated skin. I tried to wash the unwanted colour off the fabric, to no avail. Never mind.

At least now I was calm. The soothing sound of the water lapping and the soft glow of the orange sun had washed away all the trauma and shock of the attack. I looked around me and sighed with satisfaction.

There was a small sand hill in the middle of the river, not too far from where I bathed. I could barely believe that only one week ago, the Bulldog lay dying on that very patch of land. One week had flown past; what, with all that had been accomplished in that time.

But now I could relax. I closed my eyes, forgetting that the village might be looking for me; that they may be wondering where I was...

"Ziio?"

DADADAHHHH!

Ah poor Ziio eh? So who was the voice at the end? Can you guess? Hehe :P

So we're only a couple of reviews away from a sequel, so carry on reviewing! Get friends to review it as guests or whatever (guest reviews still count towards our goal: 65!)

And thanks again to all you LOVELY viewers!